August Ins and Outs

A little late this one, but I was trying to actually write some reviews of books read on August.
August was a good month for reading (not as good as July, thought), and with a few purchases as well. No Bookmooched books, though (I seem to have finally spent all my points)


INS
Bought
Null-A Three by A. E. Van Vogt
Found this at the supermarket at very low price, and I'm not the kind of girl to say no to a book bargain.







A clash of kings by George R.R. Martin
I was starting to wonder why it was taking so long for this book to arrive. When I finally got the package, there was a little sticker that explained everything: Missent to Australia











The king of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
I was avidly waiting for these two. You'll find one of them again below, and the reason it isn't the two, it is because A Conspiracy of Kings only arrived on the last day of August

Bought Used (and in this case, already read)

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
My copy! Finally! After bookdepository sent my first one to limbo!








OUTS
Fire study by Maria V. Snyder

[Review]

Rating: 2 out 5





Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

[Review]

Rating: 4 out 5






The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

[Review]

Rating: 3.5 out 5





Revelation by Carol Berg     Review to come
The sequel to Transformation. It wasn't what I expected, but that is neither good or bad. It had some good things, a lot of history and tradition of the Ezzarians, and even more about the demons they fight. And yes, there were quite a few revelations in there.
Bonus: A much better cover


Rating: 4 out 5




The king of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner    Review to come
The third in The Queen's Thief series (my new favourite series!). Not told by the POV of Gen, but he is there. It feels different from the other two, less danger I would say, but there are a lot of dangerous situations in there. Maybe more homely. But still very good.

Rating: 4.5 out 5



TBR Variation: -1 (From 203 to 202)

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

Swordspoint
 


On the treacherous streets of Riverside, a man lives and dies by the sword. Even the nobles on the Hill turn to duels to settle their disputes. Within this elite, dangerous world, Richard St. Vier is the undisputed master, as skilled as he is ruthless--until a death by the sword is met with outrage instead of awe, and the city discovers that the line between hero and villain can be altered in the blink of an eye.





Swordspoint is a story of intrigue, that pretty much follows Richard St. Vier, a swordsman for hire, and the best there is. It starts with him coming back home, after his latest duel, with the gossipers of Riverside trying to figure out who hired him. This is a mystery also discussed by the nobles of the Hill.

The world of Swordspoint is very well built, with the rich families that live on the Hill, and the poor and the dangerous people on Riverside. The society of Swordspoint is even better built, because there is so much detail that it feels real. The nobles have their protocols and rules, traditions and manners. They resort to swordsmen to fight their duels, some times to the death, as that is the socially accepted way to kill an enemy.

But even if the story follows Richard, there are other characters as well. Alec, Richard's lover, is a mystery to everyone, a drop-out from the University, who gambles away all his money and picks fights he cannot fight. There is Michael Godwin, a young noble with aspirations to power, who decides that he will learn how to fight with a sword, not just look pretty with it, like most of his counterparts. Duchess Tremontaine, to all appearances with no political ties, but who works behind the scenes to get what she wants. And a multitude of other characters, all with their struggles and passions.

I liked Swordspoint. during the time I read it, I didn't want to put it down. But I wanted to solve the mysteries that kept appearing, trying to see through all the intrigue. But I never really connected with Richard St. Vier, and disliked Alec immensely, although I think Alec was supposed to be dislikable, it was part of his persona. Of all the characters, the one I liked most was Michael, and I got little of him.

I had expected to love Swordspoint – the reviews I had read and the three pages of blurbs certainly made me believe I would, but that was not the case. It was a well written, and well thought off story, but once I was done with it, I didn't really care to know more about it.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: starmetal oak book blog

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Gam.co

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week a theme for a list is suggested. This week is Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying To Read.









1 - El Mapa del Cielo by Félix J. Palma [The map of the sky]
When I read The Map of Time, I considered a finished book. In fact I loved that the ending was so final. A few months ago, I discovered there would be two more books in what is now called the Victorian Trilogy. I love Palma's writing, so I will read anything he writes next, but double so if it is anyway related to (or as good as) The Map of Time.



2 - House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
I read Howl's Moving Castle and loved it, and I read Castle in the Sky, and also liked it. So, I want to read the next one in the series.







3 - A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Again, I loved the first one, now I'm continuing the series. This one is already on the list as one of the next books to pick up. It's right there on the shelf looking at me.








4 - Ironside by Holly Black
The last one on the Modern Tales of Faerie series, I have heard good things about it and I, of course, want to finish this series. The only reason I haven't bought this yet is because I'm trying to find a copy that matches the other two. Not just because it will look better that way, but because it's the cover I like the most.




5 - Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Another one still in the process of being written. I want more! Especially if Katsa and Po reappear! More!


6 - The Scar by China Miéville
A sequel to Perdido Street Station. I want to read more stuff by China Miéville and I enjoyed Perdido Street Station and the world of Bas-Lag. More about it can only be good, right?








7 - Whatever I haven't read of Discworld by Terry Pratchett

Unfortunately is a far too big list to be put in here. Or to be proud of.








8 - What I haven't read of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Which are: The Lost Colony, The Time Paradox, and The Atlantis Complex.







And that's it. No 9 and 10 places, but let's face it, Discworld alone could make the entire list.

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The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The War of the Worlds
This one is already a classic, but I had very little prior knowledge about its plot. I knew the Martians attacked, and that was it. Recently I read a book by a Portuguese author that was something akin to retelling of this book.

Intent on remedying this fault in my reading of Science Fiction, I set forth with this book. It was not without mishaps, as my aunt decided she would be reading it, and stole the book from me. Even though *I* was reading it. Luckily, this is a book in public domain, so I also had the ebook on my phone. Later on, I also “read” this book via audiobook, but I'll explain why further ahead.

The War of the Worlds is indeed the story of how Martians attacked Earth (or Britain, I'm still not sure what happened to the rest of world), and what happened during this invasion. The narrator tells us first of the society of the late 19th century, their beliefs (and disbeliefs) of the possibility of life on other planets and of space travel. Then he describes how the invasion came to pass, of the mayhem that followed and his own attempts of rescuing loved ones and survival.

This book took awhile to read, and it was more to do with the writing style than exactly the plot. The plot had everything to make read page after page, there were explosions and Martians and thunderstorms. But, somehow, the writing fail to transmit all that excitement and actions. It dragged, and dragged and I could only read a few pages at a time.

And this is the reason I turned to audiobooks. It would be easier to listen one chapter at a time, while I did other stuff. And at least the readers at Librivox manage to convey the emotions that were on paper. And so I was able to finish this book.

So, my overall opinion? Meh. Nice story, but the writing did nothing for me. And it's a story that has lost part of its power since space travel became a reality.


Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Gam.co | Librivox | Project Gutenberg

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Assassin's Apprentice
Assassin's Apprentice is the first book in the Farseer Trilogy, a introduction to the world of the Six Duchies, and to the story of Fitz Farseer.

Now, this book begins with young Fitz being left at the gates of a fort by his grandfather, claiming that his father should be the one providing for him. As it turned out, Fitz was the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, King-in-waiting. He is left in the care of Burrich, Chivalry's hound and stable master, until it is someone decides what is to be done with him.

But due to political intricacies of court life and throne heirs, Fitz remains in the care of Burrich, who, to be honest, only knows how to raise animals. So Fitz grows up among hounds and horses, as well as the rascals on the town below the Castle. And it is with the animals that he discovers his talent that is The Wit, which allows him to feel and communicate with animals.

This is just the beginning of the story, there are a lot of sub-plots, and master plots, and minor plots in this book. As Fitz grew older, the King Shrewd takes an interest on him while, shrewdly, teaching his younger son, Prince Regal, how best to deal with bastards in the family. And this is the way Fitz becomes an apprentice to the king's assassin, Chade. All this happens while the Six Duchies are under constant threat of barbarians, especially the Red-Ship Raiders.

There is a lot in this book that was good, or nice. For instance, the fact that the King and Princes have names that are qualities is not simply coincidence. In this world, it is believed that the name has a power, and so nobles are named with qualities one might desire on them. And, for most part it works. King Shrewd is shrewd, Prince Verity looks like he is true, and Prince Regal is very regal, no doubt. Prince Chivalry however I didn't get to see, and I would have loved to, because from the general feeling of the Six Duchies, he was a fine man, and his part of the story always screamed at me as important. Lady Patience is the one whose name missed the mark, in my opinion.

But back to the book. I liked it, but I felt it was too much of an introduction, and there were too many plots and sub-plots [etc.]. Not that this is bad, but there were some of them that were boring, others that I felt that should have lead somewhere by the end of the book, and one that I believe happened way to fast to my liking, because I enjoyed it a lot.

And part with my problem with this sub-plots had to do with how much I liked each character. Unfortunately, Fitz, the main character, never really clicked with me. He is not a bad character, but just not exactly what I like. So, I never really cared about his expeditions to town and his romantic woes. When he interacted with the other characters, then I liked. Chade and The Fool were my favourites, both shady characters, just the way I like.

And, as I said, this is just an introduction to the trilogy, but as such, it is a good one. I expect that the next book to shows a lot more about The Red-Ship raiders and their attacks, as well as how Fitz grows up in (the backstages) of the court.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: Este meu cantinho... (and part 2)

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Gam.co

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Era uma vez, or so the story goes...

Era uma vez is the traditional way to start a fairy tale in Portugal - the Portuguese version of Once upon a time.

And so this is a meme/probably-regular-post-kind-of-thing where I'll share some first words I like of books I like.

So here are some of my favourites:

Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin

The range of the airplane--a few thousand miles, the other side of the world, coconut palms, glaciers, the poles, the Poles, a lama, a llama, etc.--is pitifully limited compared to the vast extent and variety of experience provided, to those who know how to use it, by the airport.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.

Very Far Away From Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin

If you'd like a story about how I won my basketball letter and achieved fame, love, and fortune, don't read this.

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

Far to the south of the land of Ingary, in the Sultanates of Rashpuht, a young carpet merchant called Abdullah lived in the city of Zanzib.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

It begins, as most things begin, with a song.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

...and its remade version:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

Mordred's Curse by Ian McDowell

I don't care what Guinevere and Gawain say; this won't be Mordred's Life of Arthur, but Mordred's Life of Mordred. Fuck them; they can chronicle my sanctimonious progenitor's exploits if they've got the stomach for it.

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma

Welcome, dear reader, as you plunge into the thrilling pages of our melodrama where you will find adventures of which you never dreamt!

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I Loved But Never Wrote A Review For

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week a theme for a list is suggested. This week is Books You Loved But Never Wrote A Review For (either books you loved and couldn't bring yourself to write a review for or books that you read long before blogging...time to give them a shoutout!)

There are a lot of books that fit this category, so I had a little trouble selecting. Some I chose because they are not very well known and deserve a shout-out.



1 - Earthsea Trilogy Quartet Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favourite authors, and that love started with this series. A Wizard of Earthsea was being advertised as a Harry Potter kind-of-book (despite being much older, and altogether different), and so I dove in into it. And loved it. And then I went for the next book in the series, The Tombs of Atuan, which I loved even more, and then kept reading, and reading, and discovering there were more books and short-stories.

In total there are 6 books, in which the 5th one, Tales from Earthsea, is a collection of short-stories set in the same world (and one of them a bridge between book 4, Tehanu, and book 6, The Other Wind).

Tombs of Atuan (Book 2) and Tales of Earthsea (Book 5) are my favourites, but all of them are marvellous. I love the characters and especially the world building. Bonus points: Dragons!

2 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
I will probably make a proper review of this one because I plan on re-read it soon.
The Hobbit was not my first Tolkien book, I had just finished The Lord of the Rings, and I NEEDED MORE! MORE! So, I read the Hobbit. The Hobbit was the first book that I read in English (besides picture books), but since this is, in essence, a book for children, it wasn't much of a problem.
Reading The Hobbit after reading The Lord of the Rings (plus all the annexes) means I knew part of what was going to happen, at least relating to the One Ring. But there is so much more to this story than just Gollum and Bilbo. I loved every bit of it!

3 - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
After being finished with the first books of Earthsea I went to look at everything else that Ursula K. Le Guin wrote, and found out most of it was Science Fiction. The problem was I was under the impression I didn't like Science Fiction (in truth what I don't like is Space Opera, but I only learnt the difference much later). I gave The Left Hand of Darkness a try, it had a cool name.

And I loved it. In a way it was a good book to start, there are just some references to advanced technology and other planets, the plot is all set in Winter (the planet, in constant winter, hence its name), and deals with social and political issues. So, the only thing different from a non-science fiction book was that it was not on Earth, and most of the characters were not human.

The thing that sold this book to me was actually the natives of Winter. They were pretty much like any Earthling, except that they are androgynous and asexual for most of their lives, until they get to the reproductive phase when they can either became male or female. The complexity of relationships and how the entire society was based on different physiological features was the high point of this book.

4 - Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
This started with a band, Gogol Bordello. It's lead singer, Eugene Hutz, plays Alex in the movie based on this book, and some of their songs are on the soundtrack. So I watched the movie, and it's a favourite of mine. So I had to read the book.

If the movie is wacky, the book is wackier, crazier, but also more bittersweet. In the book there are 3 stories: Alex's story, the (dubious) history of Jonathan's ancestors, and Alex's letters to Jonathan, mostly commenting on his own story, but also commenting (and complaining) about Jonathan's version of his family history.

I loved this book. A lot.

5 - Voice of Fire by Alan Moore
Alan Moore is known for his graphic novels, but my first contact with his work was this book. It's a mixture of historical fiction and fantasy, and really surreal and weird. Good weird. It's a collection of short-stories, set in the same point in space (that point being Northampton, England) but spanning 6000 years.

The first story/chapter of this book is something I have to talk about. Set in 4000BC, the narrator/main character has a limited vocabulary and very little grammatical coherence. Meaning that it's a hell to try to understand what is going on at all. It's more like a detective work. But that is part of the fun, trying to figure out what is going on. I also have to applaud the Portuguese translator, because translating gibberish and maintaining its little sense while not losing its gibberish quality is a huge feat.

The rest of the stories are really good, some irreverent, some sad. One of these days I will re-read this book.

6 - The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales by J.R.R Tolkien
...or anything related with the Lord of the Rings.
I love the world building of Middle Earth, and the way that The Silmarillion is a History book for the whole thing.

The story of Lord of the Rings is really gripping, and while reading it I felt immense joy and despair. That is actually one of the reasons I have trouble re-reading it, I can't get through Bilbo's birthday party knowing how much bad it gets towards book 3. But there is really not much need for another Lord of the Rings review, so I'll just say: it's good and I love it.

7 - Books by Juliet Marillier that I haven't reviewed (yet)
I love this author, and I have reviewed some of her books, some because I read them not so long ago, others because I re-read them not so long ago. But there are are still a lot of them that I love and have yet to do so. Namely, The Daughter of the Forest, The Child of the Prophecy, The Heir to Sevenwaters, The Light Islands Saga and the Wildwood books.

I will most certainly re-read those in the near future, so I might review them then. Suffice to say, I love them all.

8 - American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Fantasy with mythology, and very dark, this one was right up my alley. It has some interludes, or short stories inside the main story, that were weird and disturbing, but my overall opinion of this book is WOW. There is a grittiness to it that I particularly liked.

The main character, Shadow, took some time to get to know and like, but there is an assortment of secondary characters that are simply amazing.

9 - A Segunda Manhã do Mundo by Manuel de Pedrolo [not available in English, original in Catalan: Mecanoscrit del segon origen]
This was another book I picked up based on the title alone. The second morning of the world, as translated in the Portuguese version. And it's a name that summarizes well this short book. It's a post apocalyptic story, about two kids that survived the apocalypse, and how they manage to survive (and repopulate the world).

I loved post apocalyptic stories, and this one was really good. It portrayed very well the hardships of two teenagers suddenly all alone in the world, and what had to be done in other to survive.

10 - Terra Prometida by José Manuel Fajardo [not available in English, original in Spanish: El Converso]
This one is Historical Fiction, set in 17th century and is the story of two man who keep re-encountering each other in different times, in different places in the world, and in different situations (not always the best), and manage to help each other out each time (while keeping score). But most of all is a story about freedom, something both men seek, although for different reasons.

I loved the writing in this one, and the different cultures portrayed: Caribbean, Arabic and European. The way the stories of the two men connected was marvellous, even if at times it was a surprise they did connect at all.